This sort of thing makes me wonder if cryptocurrency anonymity is a good thing.

I know there are some legitimate use cases where remaining anonymous when making a payment may be a good thing, but this sort of situation where people can be extorted for crypto payments, makes me wonder if anonymity for a few is worth it for the masses.

It wouldn't surprise me if payments are being demanded in very difficult to trace cryptos like Monero.

I can understand someone like say yourself or Carsten who say got in early on the next BTC and is worth $500m next year, wanting to be anonymous.
Or maybe someone else made a lot and do not want the tax authorities to know
Or maybe I am a gun / drug trader etc

So it is worth it for the few for sure. But I think also for the masses - if we are not anonymous then the govt / banks will try to act against us somehow.